Module manager: Dr Ross Truscott
Email: R.Truscott@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
| ARTF1003 | Introduction to Cultural Analysis 1 |
| ARTF1004 | Introduction to Cultural Analysis II |
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Representation, context, form, interpretation and power are words one hears often in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies (FAHACS). What do these words mean? What are the debates surrounding these words? How are these five keywords used, in cultural analysis and across different fields in the Arts and Humanities? By systematically introducing these keywords to you—a new word every second week—the course will help to build your critical vocabulary, which will not only support the development of your own analytical practice but enable you to dialogue with those outside your immediate course.
The module engages a range of cultural objects—social documentary photographs, artworks, adverts, memes, television shows, films, literary works. The module is not about these cultural objects. The focus, rather, is on how these and other cultural objects can be studied. The primary aims of the module, then, are methodological. Systematically engaging and reflecting on the different ways in which these five keywords—representation, context, form, interpretation and power—have been and can be used in and beyond your immediate degree programme, the module aims to prepare you for engaged critical research.
On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:
1- Competently practise close reading, engaging theoretical texts that have been foundational to cultural analysis.
2- Assemble the five keywords into an analytical approach with which you can do research on and with cultural objects.
3- Pose your own research questions about cultural objects.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module you will be able to:
4- Relate the practice of cultural analysis to other forms of analysis in and beyond the Arts and Humanities.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 | 2 | 20 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 170 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 30 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
You will gain formative (constructive, non-assessed feedback) in seminars throughout the module. You will be offered written formative feedback after both the mid-term and the final essay. After the mid-term essay, an hour-long session will be held to offer general formative feedback to the whole class, but students may also book a meeting with the module leader throughout the module, including a meeting after both assignments to help you understand the grade you received and how to improve future written assignments.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Written | 30 |
| Coursework | Written | 70 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 08/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team